


You're So Beautiful (I want to punch myself in the face)

by bfketh



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Sex, Dorks in Love, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Grinding, Light Angst, M/M, Mentions of Dysfunctional Family, Mutual Pining, Oral Sex, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:06:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3644637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bfketh/pseuds/bfketh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren likes Levi.</p><p>Levi likes Eren.</p><p>And neither one of them has any idea what the hell they're doing.</p><p>They'll figure it out eventually.</p><p> </p><p>(For Eren's Birthday, 2015.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're So Beautiful (I want to punch myself in the face)

Nearly everyone at school was scared of - or at least wary of - Levi Ackerman. In grade school, he'd just been the weird, anti-social kid that everyone kept away from and talked about in hushed whispers when he wasn't around. No one was ever brave enough to talk about him to his face, not after he'd broken the arms of several older - and larger - boys who had tried to gang up on him.

"I heard he collects headless Barbie dolls."

"Well, _I_ heard that his family is Yakuza."

"Wait, wouldn't that make Mikasa Yakuza, too?"

"Someone told me that he doesn't even have a family."

"Then who raised him?"

"I dunno... Feral cats?"

"Jean, you're an idiot."

Eventually, the rumors changed a bit, and followed him all the way to high school.

"When we were in junior high, he fought off an entire gang single-handedly."

"He's in a gang."

"He's the leader of a gang."

"He _killed_ the old leader and took his place."

"He killed a man just to watch him die."

"You can get any kind of drugs you want from him."

"Connie, you moron, are you _still_ telling people that?" Jean interjected. "Because of you, I asked him to sell me some pot last year. You know what I got? A lecture on personal responsibility and an offer to 'kick my ass so hard I'd have to shit out of my mouth for a week' if he ever heard about me asking anyone for drugs again."

The entire boys’ locker room erupted into laughter as the sophomores filed out and split up to head for their next classes. Eren sighed to himself as he trailed behind them. He never liked listening to the others gossip about Levi when they didn’t even know him. Sure, Eren didn’t really know him either, and every time he tried to get up the nerve to talk to the older boy he’d get tongue-tied and stutter out something random before scurrying away, but he liked to think he had a better handle on him than most of the rest of the school. Eren’s best friend, Mikasa, was Levi’s cousin, after all, and Eren’s own cousin, Isabel, was one of the few friends that Levi had.

And maybe Eren relentlessly – and somewhat transparently – pumped them both for info about Levi every chance he got.

Eren wasn’t sure himself when his curiosity about the withdrawn boy had become a full-blown, raging crush, but it probably had something to do with his first day of high school. At that point, he’d barely seen Levi at all for about a year, since he was in the grade ahead of Eren, but when he did see him again, he’d completely changed. Eren almost didn’t recognize him, but, really, there would only be one person _that_ short walking with Erwin down the hall and – barely – putting up with Hanji half-hanging off his shoulders.

Gone was the quiet, small boy in thick, plastic-framed glasses and oversized dress shirts. He’d traded the glasses for contacts (and occasionally a different pair of glasses framed with thin, silver wire, Eren would later discover). He’d cut his hair, leaving the very top hanging down to about level with the corner of his eyes and shaving the rest in an undercut. He’d also gotten several piercings in his ears and replaced the too-large clothes with a ripped, black t-shirt and skin-tight jeans, showing off a body of sculpted muscle that a Greek god would be envious of.

Okay, maybe Eren knew _exactly_ when he had started falling, but that didn’t really help him much when he still couldn’t string together two words in Levi’s presence.

As Eren hurried to his next class, he happened to glance down the hallway where the juniors’ lockers were. He could see Isabel and Farlan talking together near Levi’s locker, but no sign of Levi himself. He trotted over to them, and Isabel looked up and smiled as he approached. “Hey, Eren!”

“Hey, Isa. Farlan.” Farlan gave him a nod in greeting, and Eren shuffled nervously from foot to foot. “So, um, is…is something wrong?” He gestured over at Levi’s locker. Eren hadn’t seen Levi at school at all for the past week, and although it wasn’t unusual for Levi to randomly skip classes or even entire days, he never did it for two in a row.

“We don’t know.” Isabel chewed on her lower lip. “No one can get a hold of him.”

“Not even Erwin?”

Farlan shook his head. “I heard that Hanji even showed up at his apartment, but it was completely dark and no one answered the door.”

Eren felt his stomach swoop down, settling somewhere near the vicinity of his feet. “That doesn’t… sound very good.”

**~~~~~**

He asked Mikasa, but she didn’t know what was going on either. Her father wasn’t very close with Levi’s branch of the family, and they hadn’t heard anything. Eren was starting to worry that Levi’s family had just up and moved and that he would never see him again.

Then, after two weeks of absence, Levi showed back up at school. He was accompanied by Erwin’s father, who disappeared into the office with Levi in tow. Eren tried to linger nearby to find out what had happened, but the warning bell rang, forcing him to hurry off to class.

During the first break between classes, Eren found himself approaching Levi at his locker with no clear plan of what he was even _doing_. “Um.” Eren nervously cleared his throat when Levi turned to him and raised one thin eyebrow over the rim of his glasses. The reason for the lack of contacts today was glaringly obvious – a large bruise mottled the pale skin of Levi’s right cheek and around his eye. It was old enough that it had faded to sickly shades of green and yellow, and Eren bit back his automatic questions about it as Levi’s grey eyes narrowed dangerously. Eren took a deep breath. “You’ve, uh, you’ve missed a lot of school.”

“No shit.” Levi closed his locker and leaned against it. “Is there a point to this, Jaeger?”

“I just thought, uh, maybe if you needed someone to help you get caught up…?” Eren trailed off and looked down. His heart was pounding in his chest from nerves, and he could feel his face heating up.

There was a long silence before Levi muttered, “You’re a year behind me, numbnuts; we’re not even in the same classes.” Levi started to turn and walk away.

Eren blurted out, “AP Calculus!”

Levi stopped and looked back at him. “What?”

“We have AP Calculus together. I could help you with that.”

Levi seemed to hesitate before looking away. “Hanji and the others are already coming over tonight to help me study.”

“Oh.” Yeah, if Eren needed help studying, he’d take Hanji’s help over almost anyone. Then an idea hit him, and he started digging through his bag. “Hanji won’t have the notes you missed, though. You can borrow mine.”

Levi shifted his hips and sighed. “You need those notes, Eren. Don’t we have a test coming up soon?”

Eren thought for a second. “I’ve got Art right before lunch. Ms. Rico will probably let me use her copy machine, and I can give you the photocopies at lunch so you can at least look over them a bit before class.”

“…Alright.”

As Levi walked away, Eren, after glancing around to make sure no one was looking, allowed himself a small fist-pump of victory before he ran to make it to his next class by the time the bell rang.

**~~~~~**

That evening, Levi flipped through the notes Eren had given him. They were, perhaps surprisingly, much neater and more thorough than Levi had been expecting. On the surface, Eren - impulsive, stubborn Eren - didn't seem like the type to put much care or effort into his schoolwork, but, then again, he _was_ consistently on the honor roll. As his eyes scanned across the rows of formulas in Eren's rounded handwriting, Levi felt something soft and fluttery settle in his chest. Or maybe it was his stomach. Definitely in the general vicinity of his rib cage. Maybe he could ignore it and pretend it was just his pain meds kicking in and not a delayed reaction to the determined expression on Eren's stupid perfect face.

Levi's thoughts were interrupted by Isabel dropping heavily into the chair next to him. "Whatcha got there?"

"Jaeger gave me a copy of his calc notes."

"Ohhh?"

She leaned closer to him, and Levi sighed. "Actually, he offered to help me study, but you guys were already coming over, and he's only got one class with me, so..." Levi trailed off and looked up to see six pairs of eyes staring at him from around the Smiths' kitchen table. "What?"

Hanji shook their head, making their ponytail swing back and forth. "Levi, Levi, Levi..." They paused. "Wait. Who's Jaeger?"

"Isabel's cousin, Eren," Farlan answered.

"He's on the JV soccer team," added Erwin.

"Ah. The one with the fan-fiction green eyes." Hanji snapped their fingers in comprehension before rounding on Levi. "Levi! That beautiful, gorgeous boy asked you if you wanted to study with him, _alone_ , and you _turned him down_?!"

"That's... You guys were already helping me... I..."

Mike and Nanaba exchanged a glance as Levi floundered. "You could have just rescheduled with us. We would have understood," Nanaba said gently as Mike nodded next to her.

"I just... Look, I panicked, okay?" Levi groaned and took off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose, ignoring the sting of his still-healing bruises. He missed the amused glances his friends exchanged over his head.

Isabel huffed out a noisy breath through her nose and pulled out her cell phone. "This is getting ridiculous. Eren has a game Saturday; I'm going to tell him I want to hang out after, and _you_ are coming along whether you like it or not."

"Alright. Fine. Whatever. Can we _please_ just drop this now so I can get my make-up work done?"

**~~~~~**

Just as promised, Isabel showed up with Farlan to drag Levi to the soccer field early Saturday morning. At least it was sunny out, and a warm mid-autumn day. Levi still grumbled through most of the first half, just out of principle. But then Eren stopped on the sideline near where they were sitting and lifted up the bottom edge of his shirt to wipe his face. Which just so happened to give Levi a perfect view of well-defined abs. Eren dropped his shirt back into place and scanned the crowd. Isabel waved to get his attention, and Eren grinned and waved back when he spotted her. Then his eyes slid to the left and widened slightly in surprise as he recognized Levi. Eren's smile seemed to soften, and he ran his hand through his hair before one of his teammates called out to him, pulling his attention back to the field.

Isabel leaned in close to Levi. “Close your mouth, Bro.”

~~~

Levi slouched against the wall near the locker rooms as the three of them waited for Eren to come out. When she saw him, Isabel started waving and shouting his name. Eren weaved through his teammates and greeted Isabel with a hug. “Hey, Isa. Thanks for coming.”

“Thanks for agreeing to hang out.” She let Eren go and jerked a thumb over at Levi. "I hope you don’t mind if the grump tags along.”

“Oh, um, no, it’s fine.” Eren glanced over at Levi, the same soft smile from earlier lighting up his face. Levi snorted and looked in the other direction, trying to hide that his heart was beating a million miles a minute.

“C’mon.” Isabel started tugging on Eren’s arm. “Let’s go; we’re burning daylight here.”

"Where are we going, anyway?" Levi asked as he and Farlan trailed after the two of them.

"We're gonna get ice cream from that place by the park to celebrate Eren's victory, of course!"

"You want to get ice cream in October."

Isabel looked over her shoulder at Levi and stuck her tongue out. "Ice cream is always in season. Besides, it's nice out today."

Levi and Farlan exchanged a long-suffering look before they both shrugged in resignation.

They headed back to the park after they picked up their desserts. Levi claimed one of the benches in the sun; he refused to walk around while he ate, even if had gotten a cup. Eren hesitated until Isabel gave him a small shove in the center of his back that sent him stumbling toward the bench and nearly dropping his cone. He caught his balance and then sat down on the end of the bench opposite Levi. Isabel eyed them both before turning back to Farlan and tugging his arm. “I wanna go see the ducks. Come with me.”

“H-hey, stop yanking!”

Isabel ignored his protests and continued to pull him down the path. As they left, she looked back over her shoulder at Levi and winked.

 _‘Real subtle there, Isabel.’_ Levi slumped down in his seat before straightening up with a hiss as his chest gave a warning twinge.

Eren must have heard the pained intake of breath because he was immediately looking over at Levi with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, just peachy. I love having a broken rib. I highly recommend the experience.” Levi regretted the words almost as soon as they were out of his mouth.

Eren’s eyes widened with shock. “Holy shit! When did… Is that why you were gone?”

Levi looked away. “Kind of. I don’t really want to talk about it here.”

“Oh.” Out of the corner of his eye, Levi saw Eren chewing on his lower lip. “Do you want me to go get Isabel and Farlan so we can leave? I mean if you’re in pain…”

Levi shook his head and looked back over. “It’s fine. It’s gonna hurt no matter where I am, and I’ve got a brace on.” An awkward silence stretched between them until Levi pointed his spoon at Eren. “Your ice cream is melting.”

“Crap!” Eren juggled his vanilla cone to his other hand, absently licking up the dripping white cream off his fingers. Levi caught himself staring and quickly looked down, shoving a spoonful of his own dessert into his mouth, hoping it would somehow cool the heat he could feel flooding into his cheeks.

Levi looked back up to see green eyes staring at him, and he hunched his shoulders as a wave of defensiveness swept over him. "What?"

"I still can't believe you got green tea ice cream. Isn't it bitter?"

"Not really." Levi ate another spoonful, carefully rolling it around his tongue. "The matcha is a little bitter, I guess, but the ice cream itself is sweet. I don't really like things that are too sweet, though."

"Hmm." Eren's expression turned thoughtful. "So, you like dark chocolate better than milk chocolate, right?"

Levi decided to tease him. "What, planning for Valentine's Day already?"

"...Maybe."

Eren's answer was quiet, and not at all what Levi had been expecting. He'd thought Eren would end up getting flustered, the way he usually did around Levi, but instead it was _Levi_ who felt his heart pounding so hard in his chest that he was surprised Eren couldn't hear it. Fortunately - or maybe unfortunately - he was saved from having to say anything else by Farlan and Isabel's return. Although, after they parted from Eren, Levi had to put up with non-stop teasing from them both about how red his ears had been. 

**~~~~~**

Eren stood in the corner of the crowded, brightly lit banquet hall and tugged once again at his collar. He was lucky that his parents had disappeared because otherwise his mom probably would have smacked his hand. Eren hated the alumni parties that Sina University threw at least four times a year, but he hadn’t yet convinced his parents to let him stay home. His father insisted it was important that Eren build connections at the University, but Eren just wanted it to be _over_. It was too hot, his tie was too tight, and the blended noise of the conversations and the music was giving him a headache.

As Eren absentmindedly looked around the room, wondering if he could safely slip outside yet without anyone noticing, he caught sight of Erwin Smith standing with his father and talking to the Dean. Erwin glanced over at him and nodded in greeting. They usually saw each other at these things, both of them tagging along with their respective families. Unlike Eren, however, Erwin actually seemed to _enjoy_ the atmosphere which always baffled Eren.

Erwin looked away from Eren to nudge the person standing next to him, and as grey eyes turned to meet his, Eren recognized Levi with a start. Erwin nudged Levi again, and Levi scowled at him over his shoulder before walking toward Eren.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Silence stretched between them, and Eren glanced over at Levi from the corner of his eye. Levi was looking down at the floor, his shoulders hunched in a suit jacket that seemed just slightly too big for him. Eren cleared his throat. “So, um, how’s your chest?”

“It’s almost healed. I won’t be doing cartwheels anytime soon, but other than that, it’s fine.” Levi shrugged and looked up, his eyes scanning the crowd. “Fuck, look at Erwin go. He’s so good at kissing ass, I’m surprised his nose isn’t _literally_ brown.”

A laugh bubbled out over Eren’s lips before he could stop it, and a few of the nearby adults shot him disdainful glances, reminding Eren all over of one of the many, many reasons why he hated these things. He locked eyes with Levi. “Hey, you wanna get out of here for a few minutes?”

~~~

They shortly found themselves outside in the gardens which were deserted, despite the fact that the University had installed several giant patio heaters to ward off the November chill. Eren led Levi through the ornamental bushes and trees to a bench in a somewhat secluded corner. They sat down, and Eren coughed nervously before blurting out the first thing that popped in his head. “What are you doing here, anyway?” His face flushed red as he realized how rude he sounded, and he quickly amended, “I mean, um, I’ve just never seen you at these things before, and, I, uh…” Eren trailed off, wondering what the odds were of the ground just opening under his feet and swallowing him whole.

“I’m living with the Smiths now.”

Eren jerked his head up, eyes wide and mouth opened in a silent “O”. Levi wasn’t looking at him, his gaze focused instead on a random bush.

Levi sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I don’t know if Isabel or Mikasa told you, but my mom died when I was really young, and her older brother just kind of ended up with me by default, 'cause Mom never told anyone who my father was. I guess he wasn’t too bad, at first. I had clothes, food, a roof over my head, and he made sure I went to school.” Levi shrugged. “He’s always had an alcohol problem, though, and lately it seems like he spends more time drunk than sober. He’s a mean drunk, too.”

Eren watched Levi as he talked quietly, his face expressionless. Somehow, that carefully crafted blankness was even more heartbreaking than open anger or sadness would be. Eren found himself moving closer to Levi on the bench, stopping just before their hands touched. “Levi…”

Levi shook his head. “No, it’s okay. Anyway, to make a long story short, I’d just gotten off the phone with Isabel when he came storming into my room, pissed off and piss drunk. He’d overheard me talking to Isabel about…about a guy I like, and he started slapping me around, screaming about how he wasn’t going to have a 'pint-sized faggot' living in his house. I just…put up with it, until he said he was glad my mom was dead so she didn’t have to see her son grow up queer.” Levi’s expression changed then, growing hard and cold, and he clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white. “I hit the bastard back, and it ended with him breaking my rib, me breaking his nose, a neighbor overhearing the fight, and the cops showing up and hauling him off to jail, and _me_ off to Juvie.”

Eren gaped at him. “But…but _he_ attacked _you_!”

“Yeah, but he claimed I went after him first. And I look like a punk, so the cops treated me like one. They wouldn’t even call an ambulance for me when I complained about my chest hurting whenever I breathed. I’d probably still be locked up if Erwin’s dad wasn’t the DA. Mr. Smith saw my name on a report and got them to release me to his custody. And, let me tell you, he was _pissed_ when he took me to the doctors to get my injuries looked at and they told him my rib was broken and had nearly punctured my lung.” Levi’s face relaxed then, and he scuffed his shoe against the gravel pathway.

“Shit, that’s…” Eren trailed off and ran his hand through his hair. “Shit. I mean, I don’t know what I’d do if my parents…if they’d reacted like that.”

“So what’s it like? Coming out in a normal family?”

Eren’s lips turned up in a wry smile. “I don’t think you can call my family ‘normal.’ Mom figured it out before I’d worked up the nerve to tell them – she’d noticed that it was Dad’s _Men’s Health_ magazines that kept disappearing instead of his _Playboys_. And, well, my dad’s a doctor, right? One night, he comes down to my room after dinner and says he needs to talk to me. And then, he starts to describe, in _clinical_ detail, how anal sex works. I thought it was bad when he saw the curriculum for our seventh grade Sex Ed class and decided to teach me ‘correctly’ to ‘make up for the inadequacies of the American school system.’ This was worse. There were _diagrams_.”

Eren was interrupted by a snort from Levi. He looked over to see the older boy clamping a hand over his mouth as he tried, and failed, to hold in his laughter. It spilled through his fingers until his shoulders were shaking with it, and he hunched over and wrapped his arms around his chest. Finally, he got himself under control. “Ow.” Levi glanced up at Eren. “What?”

Eren shook his head, grinning. “You laughed.”

Levi’s eyebrows knotted together. “I can laugh. Who said I didn’t laugh?”

“No it’s just… I’ve never heard you before. It’s nice.” Eren blushed and looked away. As silence settled between them, Eren found himself fixating on something Levi had said earlier, something he was both desperate to know the answer to and afraid to hear. He pulled on his tie which felt too tight again and turned back to Levi, steeling himself with a deep breath. “So, um, that…that guy you were telling Isabel about. What…what’s he like?”

“Oh. That.” Levi’s eyes darted around the garden, almost as if he were looking for an escape route, before he seemed to come to a decision and turned to face Eren more squarely, although he wouldn’t meet his gaze and looked down at his hands instead. “He’s gorgeous. Like, I don’t think he even realizes how beautiful he is because he always looks like he got dressed in the dark. He’s got the most amazing eyes, though.” Levi glanced briefly up into Eren’s eyes before looking down, and Eren froze, not daring to even _breathe_ as he felt something warm start to come to fluttering life in his chest. “He’s got a temper – if he thinks someone’s being bullied or taken advantage of, he jumps right in without thinking. He’s a sophomore. He plays soccer…” Levi reached up and gently took hold of Eren’s tie and straightened it out. “He can’t wear a tie without screwing it up…”

Eren’s heart moved somewhere to the vicinity of his throat as Levi’s hand continued to rest on the knot of his tie. And then he was being yanked forward, his mouth opening in a cry of surprise.

“Ouch!”

“Fuck!”

They reeled away from each other, both of them raising hands to their mouths. Eren gingerly probed his lower lip with his tongue where it had clacked against Levi’s teeth, checking for blood. He let out a sigh of relief when there didn’t seem to be any.

Levi lowered his hand, a rueful grimace on his face. “Sorry. That went better in my head.”

“What were you trying to do?”

“Nothing.” Levi looked away as his cheeks and ears turned a furious scarlet. He muttered, “It was stupid, anyway.”

“Levi.” Eren bent down until his mouth was right by Levi’s cheek. “Levi. Look at me.”

“What?” Levi turned back to him. “What do…you…” When he noticed how close Eren was, he faltered, his eyes going wide.

Eren leaned forward, not giving himself time to second guess himself, and pressed his lips against Levi’s. It was brief, a bit of barely-there pressure, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the first attempt. When he pulled back, Levi looked stunned, his fingertips coming up to brush at his lips. Eren grinned, feeling more than a little smug. “Levi? You okay?”

Levi scowled at him, the effect somewhat ruined by the blush still staining his cheeks. “Oh, fuck you, Jaeger. I’m fine.”

“You sure? ‘Cause you kind of look like I just smacked you in the head with a board.”

“You little…” Levi’s hands threaded into Eren’s hair, and he – carefully – pulled his head down.

That kiss, and the next, and the one after, were better. They improved even further once they both figured out they could breathe through their noses while kissing. Although there were a few times Eren forgot to breathe anyway, like when Levi’s tongue experimentally swiped against his lips or when Eren’s hand inadvertently tightened into a fist in Levi’s hair and a _whimper_ slipped out of Levi’s throat.

“Eren!”

They broke apart as a voice called out somewhere from the other side of the garden. Eren groaned and ran a hand through his hair in a futile effort to straighten it out. “That’s my mom.”

“Time to go, huh?”

“Yeah.” Eren hesitated. “Hey, um, do you have a cell phone?” Wordlessly, Levi pulled it out and unlocked the screen, handing it to Eren. Eren fiddled it with a moment, and then handed it back to Levi, smiling as he showed him the new addition to the contact list. “Here. I, um, I guess I’ll see you at school Monday?”

“Yeah. See you Monday.” Eren started to walk away, but he was stopped when Levi grabbed his hand. He looked back curiously, and Levi lifted himself on his toes to place a quick kiss against his lips. “I’ll text you when I get home.” He gave Eren’s hand one last squeeze before he let go.

“I’d like that.”

**~~~~~**

Levi stared at his phone where he'd left it on the nightstand while he took a shower. Finally, he sat down on the guest room bed – _his_ bed now, he supposed – and typed out a short message. His thumb hovered over the “Send” button until he tightened his grip and pressed down.

**_Levi: Hey, you still up?_ **

He quickly followed it with a second message as he realized Eren didn’t have his number.

**_Levi: This is Levi._ **

He stared at his phone, wondering if he’d done the right thing, when it vibrated in his hand. He jumped in surprise, nearly dropping the damn thing in the process before he managed to pull up the new message.

**_Eren: Ya I’m up. Can u talk r/n?_ **

Levi hesitated, chewing on his lower lip. It was late, but no one in the house was likely to overhear him from his room. He sent a simple, one word reply.

**_Levi: Yes._ **

A moment later, his ringtone sounded, and this time Levi managed to answer it without fumbling. His hands still felt a little shaky, though, as he held the phone up to his ear. “Hello?”

 _“Hey.”_ Eren’s voice sounded somewhat breathy on the other end of the line. _“I was starting to think you weren’t going to text me tonight.”_

“Sorry. We left pretty late, and I just got out of the shower.”

 _“O-oh.”_ There was a long silence. Eren coughed. _“So, um, anyway. I, uh, I wanted to call because I’ve got something to tell you.”_

“Okay.” Levi leaned back against the pillows and tried to calm the butterflies currently practicing acrobatics in his stomach.

_“Well, um, the thing is… I guess Mom was looking for me, like, half-an-hour before she called me to leave, and she, uh, she saw us.”_

“Oh, shit.” Levi sat bolt upright. “Are you in trouble? Shit, I can-“

He was cut off by the sound of Eren’s laughter. _“No, no, nothing like that. They just told me to ask you over for dinner sometime. Soon. They said they wanted to meet my…my boyfriend.”_

 _Boyfriend_. Levi’s heart gave an odd leap in his chest at the word. Was he Eren’s boyfriend? Sure, they’d spent the better part of an hour hiding from the party and sucking face, and he’d like to do _more_ of the latter. With Eren. And other stuff, like going to coffee shops and taking walks and curling up together under a blanket to watch a movie and just holding hands with their fingers interlacing each other and…okay, yeah, Levi definitely had it bad.

_“Levi? You still there?”_

Levi startled. “Yes! …I mean, yeah, I’m here. And I, uh, I’d like to come over for dinner. Friday, after school. If…if you don’t think that’s too early? Is that too early?” Shit, he had no idea what he was doing. Levi kind of wished Hanji was there right now. Not that he would ever admit that out loud.

Luckily, Eren laughed again. _“It’s fine. I’ll let them know.”_

They talked for a little bit longer, or rather, Eren did the majority of the talking while Levi listened. When Eren started to punctuate most of his sentences with yawns, Levi told him it was time to get off the phone so they could both get to sleep. Eren seemed reluctant to hang up at first, but eventually he gave in with a sleepy “G’night.”

After they hung up, Levi put his phone back on the nightstand, followed shortly by his glasses. As he turned out the light and shut his eyes, he found himself looking forward to school on Monday for the first time in a long time.

**~~~~~**

Isabel caught up with Levi on the way to lunch.

“Okay, so the park thing didn’t go so well because _someone_ , and I’m not naming names, got all tongue-tied.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, I was thinking, _this_ time, I invite Eren to go to the movies with us, and we’ll have him sit next to you.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’ll be best if we can get him into a horror movie, ‘cause he always ends up with a death-grip on whoever sits next to him.”

“Uh-huh.”

“…and that’s where the chicken comes in.”

“Uh-huh. …Wait, what?”

“I knew it!” Isabel rounded on Levi and glared at him, her hands on her hips. “You’re not even listening to me!”

Levi sighed and pushed through the doorway to the cafeteria. “Don’t worry about it. Everything’s fine.”

Isabel stomped after him. “Everything is NOT fine, you-!” She cut herself off as she realized they were walking toward Eren’s group instead of heading over to where Erwin was sitting.

Eren was already there, sprawled across his seat and a good portion of the seat next to him as he glared up at Jean. “I told you, I’m saving this seat for someone!”

“Who? Mikasa and Armin are already here.”

“None of your business.”

“The hell…?” Jean sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Jesus, Jaeger. You’re acting weird today, even for you. What, did you get a boyfriend or something while we weren’t looking?”

Just as Eren opened his mouth to reply, Levi stepped behind Jean. “Is there a problem here?”

Jean jumped and spun around, his eyes going wide when he spotted Levi. “N-nothing!” He cleared his throat, his voice dropping back down to his normal pitch. “I’ll, uh, I’ll just go over…here.” Jean sat down on the other side of Eren and Armin. Levi dropped into the now empty seat to Eren’s right and across from Mikasa – which probably explained why Jean had wanted to sit there.

As he sat down, Eren looked over at him, an almost shy smile curling his lips. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Levi was acutely aware of the other sophomores staring at them with varying degrees of bug-eyed surprise, but then Eren’s knee pressed against his under the table and Levi didn’t really care anymore. He pulled out a sandwich from his lunch. “So, you ready for the test next period?”

Eren frowned. “Oh, God, don’t remind me. Last night I dreamed I was being chased by this giant jumble of math symbols with Mr. Voerman’s face. It grabbed me and was about to eat me when I woke up. I think I spent too much time studying last night.”

“Wow, that’s fucked up.” Levi became aware of a sustained, high-pitched noise behind him, and he twisted around in his seat. Isabel was bouncing up and down on her toes, both hands pressed against her mouth but not entirely hiding the wide grin behind them. “What?”

“Nothing! Bye, Levi! Good luck!” She waved both hands at him, still grinning, before skipping off to where Erwin and everyone else was sitting and – fuck – also staring over at them with similar shit-eating grins.

Levi groaned. He would have thumped his head against the table if he wasn’t sure it was absolutely filthy. He settled for glaring at Eren’s friends, who hastily went back to eating. Well, all of them except Armin and Mikasa. His cousin just flicked her eyes back and forth between him and Eren before giving Levi a small nod. As for the blond coconut, he just raised an eyebrow at Levi before whispering something to Eren that had the other boy spluttering at him as the tips of his ears turned pink.

**~~~~~**

It didn't take very long for word to spread around the school that Eren and Levi were a _thing_ now. It also didn't take very long for various people to start coming up to Eren and asking him to confirm if rumors about Levi were true or not. By Tuesday, Eren was a bit annoyed by it. By Wednesday, he was angry, and by that afternoon, he blew up, telling the latest crowd to just ask Levi themselves if they were so fucking curious. After that, his friends started running interference, heading off the gossip-seekers before they got close to Eren. Oddly enough, it was _Jean_ that turned out to be the most active in warding off the unwelcome attention. He claimed he was trying to make up for being such an ass in eighth grade, but Eren wasn't so sure. As much as Jean liked to appear like he didn't give a shit about anyone else, he was always weirdly perceptive.

Well, whatever the reason, Eren was grateful. With Friday looming ever closer, he had enough to stress about. But at least, judging by the string of texts he got Friday after school, he wasn't the only one that was nervous.

**_Levi: Hey, does your family dress for dinner?_ **

**_Eren: Ya, we usually wear clothes_ **

**_Levi: Haha. I mean, ties and shit? The Smiths dress up. It's fucking weird._ **

**_Eren: Nah. Dad's always at the hospital. Usually just Mom and me at dinner. U can wear w/e_ **

**_Levi: But your dad will be there tonight?_ **

**_Eren: Ya_ **

**_Levi: Maybe I should wear a tie anyway._ **

**_Eren: Just wear what u always wear. I like what u always wear. ;)_ **

**_Levi: Need I remind you what I always wear nearly landed me in jail._ **

**_Eren: Stop being so melodramatic._ **

**_Levi: You can't spell out 'you,' but then you pull out 'melodramatic?'_ **

**_Eren: :p_ **

**_Levi: My friends are no fucking help. Erwin's telling me to wear a tie, and Hanji's being completely ridiculous and telling me to go with fishnets._ **

Eren just stared at his phone for several long moments as his brain conjured up images that he would have to consider at length. Later.

**_Levi: Eren? You still there?_ **

**_Eren: Go with the fishnets._ **

**_Levi: No._ **

**_Eren: :(_ **

**_Levi: ...Maybe some other time._ **

**_Eren: Yay! :D_ **

**_Levi: Why am I dating you again?_ **

**_Eren: Because I'm hot. Anyway, u better decide soon; dinner's in an hour._ **

**_Levi: Fuck._ **

**~~~~~**

When Levi showed up, Eren found out that he had gone with a crisp pair of black jeans, instead of his usual faded or ripped ones, and a dark grey button up but no tie.

Eren also found him to be ridiculously sexy, but that was probably best expressed when his parents _weren't_ around.

"So, Levi." Grisha leaned back in his chair near the end of the meal. "Eren tells me you're a junior?"

"That's right, Dr. Jaeger."

"It's a bit early yet, but have you given thought about what you're going to do when you graduate high school?"

"Well, right now I'm working at a judo dojo part time as an assistant instructor. I also compete." Levi fiddled with his fork and sighed, while Eren stared at him in rapt fascination. Isabel had said Levi was taking karate or something, but it didn't really interest her so she didn't know much about it. "I was actually hoping to get picked for the US team for the 2016 Olympics, but I broke a rib back in September, and I haven't been able to train. I've also lost some of my muscle mass. I don't know if I'm going to be ready by the time the competition season starts in January."

Grisha nodded. "It's better to be cautious now than cause yourself permanent injury down the line. What will you do if you don't get picked?"

"Well, I thought I'd find a college with a good sports program and get a sports medicine or a nutritionist degree or something. Maybe a teaching degree, too. And I'd work on training for 2020. I think whenever I'm done with competing I might open a dojo of my own."

"Wow." Eren was still staring at him, wide-eyed. "I didn't know any of that."

Levi shrugged and looked back down at his plate, mumbling, "Well, I don't talk about that sh-stuff, much. Besides, I don't know if it will even work out."

"It's still good to have goals." Grisha shot Eren a look. "I wish Eren had his future thought out as much."

" _Dad_! Can we not do this in front of Levi? Please?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2nd chapter is coming soon.
> 
> It's also at least 80% smut, so there's that to look forward to.


End file.
